We are mid way through the month of October. We have all breathed a huge sigh of relief as the weeks pass by and we are free from the responsibility of organizing and administering the annual New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP). This standardized test has been phased out as educators worked to develop a new assessment that will measure the recently adopted Common Core State Standards (http://www.corestandards.org/).
During our in-service day on October 17th, teachers in kindergarten through Grade 5 worked with our curriculum team (Director Gwen Carmolli; Math Coach Susan Morin; and Literacy Coach Sara Blake) to delve deeper into the Common Core and examine the shifts we’ve been working on in our instruction. In the following weeks, we will link this work to the new assessment, “Smarter Balanced.” This new assessment is entirely online and will be given to students in March and April of this school year. During December, our students will login as “guests” and give the new exam a trial “road test.”
Some Vermont schools piloted the Smarter Balanced Assessment last spring. While the test items themselves are rigorous and complex, most adults worried about the students being able to manage the online features. Adults were concerned about the students learning to scroll, read on a split screen, and manipulate online tools such as protractors. The educators in the pilot schools saw students initially struggle with these elements, but the students picked up skills quickly and seemed far less stressed about Smarter Balanced than many of them were with the NECAP test. They seemed to enjoy testing on computers!
Of course, we have concerns about this new technologically based standardized test. We have concerns about scheduling all 465 students taking an online test with our few devices (25 laptops, 25 Chromebooks, and 25 ipads). We worry that the Smarter Balanced site will not run efficiently, that our own District technology infrastructure will not bear the added load, or that some unpredictable event will make test administration unduly complex. Still, we are preparing well, with our IT department planning ahead and our building based committee starting on the scheduling and logistics.
Meanwhile, October feels uniquely productive this year, after a decade of juggling NECAP test booklets and scheduling “make up” days for testing. It is a joy to visit classrooms and see uninterrupted learning. Standardized testing is a feature of our public schools today. We welcome the new challenge of Smarter Balanced, and look forward to seeing how our students perform with this new experience come spring.